In a week, Orbital is planning to launch the first Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. I wasn't really sure where to post this, as the first stage engines and other parts are Russian, the second stage is a solid rocket motor made by ATK which is the darling of the Senate, and the launch itself is done commercially by Orbital under COTS, so partially paid for by NASA...

Anyway, they're going to try to send this Frankensteinian contraption spaceward, which gives us a nice opportunity for some armchair prognostication. Will it work?

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Last edited by Lourens on Fri Apr 19, 2013 8:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Not sure what you're referring to, I wasn't trying to be cynical at least. I did think it an interesting contrast with the other COTS supplier, which likes to do everything in house. And Antares is a heck of a lot more expensive than F9 in terms of price per kilogram of cargo delivered to ISS. Or are you referring to the 0% success votes?

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Well, there's word of a retry soon, so given that there were only two votes, I'll just reopen it I think when there's a date.

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

Poll duly updated. I've removed the time limit and you can re-vote, so I expect all of us to get it right this time .

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus

I'm actually curious what the problem is with winds at altitude. Obviously you don't want to have too much wind on the pad, since the rocket is moving slowly there and you don't have sideways thrusters to compensate. But if the rocket is going Mach 1+, does a 100 mph wind really matter that much?

_________________Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment ’fore it hits – then it’s everywhereWhat is this spell we’re under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphereMachinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus